Forum for Science, Industry and Business

A simple, attractive teaching innovation method makes easier for the students the complex world of algorithms

16.11.2006

Thanks to the capacity to communicate our thoughts by algorithms we can create machines whose behaviour simulates intelligence to a certain extent.

The level simulated by the machine is limited by the intelligence we can communicate by means of algorithms. An algorithm is a finite whole of instructions or steps useful to execute a task or solve a problem; machines can only carry out algorithmic tasks.

Making this subject easier for students is very difficult for teachers given its complexity and the necessary abstraction ability to understand it. Now, from the Dpt. of Computing Sciences and Artificial Intelligence of the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada) Prof. Benítez has developed a teaching innovation project titled A multimedia tool for the learning of the Algorithm Theory.

Interactive and functional

It is a web portal to go deeply into the Algorithm theory, but it is not just that. Here there will be material and notes for the study and analysis of the algorithm theory, but it also will have an important interactive and functional component. It will be an environment for the live run of algorithms, easy to use and “quite intuitive”, according to Benítez Sánchez.

The use of the system requires a previous knowledge to access to the complex world of the algorithms. Thanks to this web, students will be able to develop more easily their own algorithms, essential instruments nowadays to develop subjects such as genetics, medicine or engineering.

This didactic tool, which will be presented in two international conferences on the subject, has its own mechanisms to carry out a study of the impact of its use among students and participants, with a users´ record. The forums and lists of e-mails will allow the feedback from the very beginning.

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